The Man in the Racetrack
by B and E
Summary: When two teenage boys stumble upon a skeleton at a BMX track, it's up to Booth and Brennan to find the murderer. Unfortunately, Booth isn't having such a good day. Will Brennan be the one to cheer him up while helping solve the case? Chapter 4 is up! R
1. Having a Bad Day

**Welcome! Thank you for finding your way to B & E's first story! YAY! Ahem...anyways so let's get on with the usual**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Bones or any of its awesome (sexy booth) characters :/**

**CAUTION! If you are new to Bones or are not up to date on episodes we must caution you that this story takes place after Season 5 Episode 14 "The Devil in the Details." So please be warned that this story, while fabulous, may contain SPOILERS!**

**ENJOY! **

Having a Bad Day

He glared at the male sitting across from him at their small diner table as he picked at the small basket of french fries that sat between them. His younger brother had just finished going on and on about this ring he had found for his fiancé only to get another "Where's the girl in your life?" question slapped in his face.

Jared sipped his barely empty glass noisily, letting the awkward silence sink in and irritate his older brother even more. Suddenly, the sound of a light ringing broke the silence and as Jared rolled his eyes, Booth quickly pulled out his cell phone while holding back a sigh of relief. "Well look at that," he said a little too enthusiastically, "Got a body. Sorry, Jared but…" His little brother waved a hand while stuffing two fries into his mouth. "Yea yea go. I'll call you later," came the muffled reply. Nodding, Booth got up quickly and headed for his SUV with the police lights attached to the top.

Slipping into the car he sighed heavily and rubbed his forehead which was beginning to throb, knowing that the rest of the day his stupid brother's comment was going to egg at him. Especially since now he had to go pick up his partner.

* * *

The sound of keys being pressed at a very fast pace filled the quiet office as fingers moved across the laptop's keyboard in fast, yet calming motions. Temperance Brennan watched her laptop with a concentrated, yet slightly bored expression. Since being paired up with her FBI Special Agent partner and being allowed to go out into the field with him, normal office work bored her quite greatly. Still though, no matter how much excitement being in the field may bring her, nothing would ever compare to her true passion: examining bones. Still, she couldn't help but heave a sigh of boredom as she filed a report on a skeleton she had examined of an unidentified civil war veteran. Leaning back in her chair she took a sip of her warm tea and out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a familiar face walking past the area of the lab where they examined bones and came straight for her office. A twinge of excitement found its way into her stomach though she quickly pushed those emotions down. Lately she couldn't tell if her excitement was from getting a case or seeing….

"Hey Bones, case." The short statement took her aback as she watched Booth leave as immediately as he had popped his head in the door. For a moment, she watched him walk off, picturing his usual barging in, clapping his hands together and saying in a bouncy and charming tone of voice, "Okay Bones! Up and atom! We got a case to investigate and a body to examine!"

When Booth was suddenly out of sight, Brennan realized that the short statement was a signal for her to follow him. Standing quickly, she left her office and hurried after him at a quick pace. By the time she had finally caught up with Booth, he was unlocking the door to the SUV and getting in. She opened her mouth to comment on his hasty and unusual behavior but before she could, Booth had already started the engine. Making an annoyed, yet at the same time, worried face, she quickly ran over to the passenger side door and climbed in. The two drove to the crime scene in silence. Brennan really wanted to find something to say or ask what was wrong, but Booth's silence made her think twice.

Finally, they arrived and a small light of hope shined for Brennan when Booth turned to her and said what he always said before they started, "Ready Bones?" She smiled and nodded, something in the repetition of that question before every case brought comfort to the doctor; it made her feel like things were in the 'norm,' if that even meant anything. Both got out of the SUV and approached the scene which was filled with police cars, two nervous witnesses, a lot of officers, the FBI's forensic team of scientists, caution tape, and dirt. Lots and lots of dirt.

* * *

"Two teenage boys decided to sneak into the track to get in some jumps while having the whole place to themselves," the main officer in the area explained to Booth who stood looking out to the BMX track with his arms crossed across his chest. Meanwhile, Brennan gathered the things she needed from one of the forensic trucks. "One of the boys was going down one of the hills on his bike, hit something and fell the rest of the way…when they went to remove the _rock,_" he put air quotes around the word rock as the three of them headed toward one of the many hills which had many people in forensic team outfits roaming about it. "Well….I think you can guess what they found…" he said obviously uncomfortable when they reached the middle of the hill that had a skull staring up at the many people who stared at its half-buried self. "Thanks, I think we can take it from here," Booth nodded to the officer who was only too happy to leave them to it and leave the scene.

Sighing, Booth rubbed his now throbbing forehead, "So…what do you think, Bones?" Instead of looking at the skull, she moved closer to her partner, "You okay, Booth?" she asked worriedly. Opening his eyes, he was surprised to see her face so close to his as she watched him closely with worried eyes. His face flushed slightly. "U-uh yea. I just didn't sleep at all last night and I had lunch with Jared…anyway!" He stopped his pathetic explanation and pointed to the skull, taking an awkward step back from the awfully close Brennan, "What uh… what do we got over there…?" Not convinced in the least,

Brennan turned away and walked over to the skull. Crouching down, she pulled out a brush from her bag. She started to brush away some of the dirt surrounding the face of the skull and found that it was in pieces and without the rest of its body. Turning to Booth, she pointed at their findings, "There are many skull fragments and it appears that the only parts left intact are the frontal, maxilla, mandible, and glabella-"

"Come again?" Booth interrupted when he became lost in her scientific jibber jabber.

"The face," she provided as Booth nodded suddenly understanding before asking, "So… where's the rest of the body?" Brennan replied, "I assume the remainder of the body is either buried under the rest of this mound of dirt or spread throughout the rest of the track. We'll have to take the skull and the dirt in which it's buried in order to find all the victim's remains."

Momentarily distracted from his mixed up feelings, Booth gawked at Brennan. "Wait, you don't mean…" She nodded, "Yes, all the dirt."

* * *

Nearly three hours later, Brennan was helping Hodgins and Wendell carry some tubs of dirt to one of the examining tables. "Wow, a whole BMX track…" Wendell commented and Hodgins nodded in agreement as he prepared the strainer for the next batch of dirt. "We wouldn't want to compromise any evidence now would we, Mr. Bray?" Wendell looked down and shook his head. "No, Dr. Brennan," he mumbled as he bent down to get a closer look at the bones before him.

So far in all the dirt, the hard working team has found about 80% of the body, every time making sure the bones belonged to the same person, which they did. As Brennan and Wendell both examined the bones, both pointing to key points on the bones that may help solve the mystery behind this poor man, Brennan still couldn't help but worry and think about Booth. These feelings were all very confusing to her; here she was doing her favorite thing in the world and she was thinking about Booth?

Sighing, she removed her gloves and shook her head. Wendell looked up curiously, "Dr. Brennan?" tossing the gloves into the trash she turned to the worried intern who obviously thought he did something wrong. "I am going to check on things with the…investigation, please continue your examination and call me with any new developments." Wendell nodded not hiding in the least his relief, "Yes, Dr. Brennan." With that, Brennan hurried off to find Booth.

Brennan was about half way to the door when she realized that she had left her phone in her office. Not wanting to miss a call about Wendell's findings or anything else having to do with the case, she turned around and headed back to her office. Hurrying into her office she fumbled for the phone on her desk when something caught her eye. Looking toward the couch, she saw something that made her heart melt. Booth lay there sleeping with his back sinking into the soft cushions, his breathing even and his expression peaceful. Slowly, she made her way over to the handsome sleeping FBI agent and sat on the edge of the couch that wasn't occupied by his legs.

It was fascinating to her, the way her feelings seemed to overwhelm her and control her actions while her brain still worked at its normal pace. She had never felt anything like it before, and as her hand lifted slowly towards Booth's hair. Brennan knew she could stop anytime, but she didn't want to.

Lightly ruffling his hair, she smiled softly. Booth was always so stressed out and worked so hard. It always made her sad that there were certain things that bothered him that he never came to her with. Like today for instance, obviously something was wrong but he didn't say anything to her. Her hand glided down his soft cheek and along his sexy jaw, he stirred slightly and though she could leave quickly without Booth ever realizing what she was doing, Brennan remained where she was as she watched Booth's eyes slip open slowly.

Giving her that cute goofy smile of his, Booth muttered, "Hey Bones…." Obviously still half asleep, he said nothing about the hand that still rested against his cheek. Blushing Brennan bit her lower lip, unable to pull herself away like her brain screamed at her to do. "What uh…can't you sleep in your own office for a change?" she teased nervously. Grinning once more Booth snuggled further into the couch, "You've got the comfy couch…" he teased back.

Whatever this weird force was that was overcoming her brain was strong. Brennan slowly leaned forward until she was leaning her forehead against his. Booth's face flushed and his eyes registered his shock; he was obviously awake and aware yet not running away or objecting like Brennan had feared.

"I'm sorry for worrying you…" he whispered. "You didn't…" she replied only to get a soft laugh from Booth, "Yea…right, you were definitely worried."

It was odd, this little back and forth teasing, it was almost like foreplay. But that was ridiculous, right?

"Booth…you know…you can always tell me when something's wrong." He smiled at her worried comment, knowing that she meant every word, "Yea I know Bones…I know…" Brennan felt herself leaning forward, her hands wrapping themselves around his jacket as many flashbacks of the Christmas kiss and many other wonderful scenes that allowed their relationship to grow flashed through her head; she leaned in fully.

When their lips met, it was like electricity shot between them and ignited a fire that heated every action they made. Booth's head leaned up, not away like she thought, but forward with an intense force that only fueled the blaze burning between them. A simple placement of the lips turned into a passionate dance of lust and want. Their lips moved in unison and husky breathes and moans rose from their cores every few seconds. Her hands roamed curiously over his muscled chest, taking in every nook and cranny of her partner's sexy body. So distracted by the man beneath her that she barely registered the strong hands gliding along her shoulders and down her back, but when fingers slid down her spine she shivered with delight and felt herself moving closer to him.

A knock at the door made both of them almost jump out of their skins and Brennan stood up right quickly as Angela walked into the room. "Yes! Ange? What is it?" came her hasty reply. The curious woman raised her eyebrows as she tried to figure out what was up with her best friend. Booth remained quiet and still, holding his breath as he pleaded for Angela not to enter the room further. Seeing as the couch had its back to the door, he knew she couldn't see him from where she was. "Uh…I was just coming by to let you know I finished the facial reconstruction…what are you doing in here…" she inquired moving into the room like a sly cat on the prowl.

Trying to think quickly of a way to prevent Angela from entering the room any further, Brennan quickly asked, "Did-did you already run it through the missing person's database?" Looking down at her clipboard, she said, "No, actually I recognized him if you can believe it; his name has been sort of everywhere lately. Blake Hutton, 22 years old and an on-the- rise BMX rider. He was originally from here, but he recently moved back from Florida when he heard about a competition coming up in the area." She moved in a little further and she couldn't help but notice Brennan's uneasiness. Scurrying around the couch Brennan moved in front of her best friend and said, "I would love to see it, let's go!" With that, she ushered the confused woman out of the office while rambling about the case and facial reconstruction nervously.

* * *

**This is the end of Chapter 1! We hope you enjoyed it and there's more where that came from. ;D Look forward to Chapter 2 next week! Please leave feedback and any comments; we'd love to hear what you have to say. (:**


	2. Something's Up

**Congratulations! If you are here, it means that Chapter 1 enthralled you and has called you onto its next chapter! So like we've said in our profile, we try to be as accurate as possible with our stories, and that doesn't just include things about Bones because trust us….we know our Bones, anyway I'm sure once you read chapter 2 you will understand why Google has become our very best friend!**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Bones or any of its awesome (sexy booth) characters :/**

**ENJOY! **

Something's Up

Once again that stupid, uncomfortable silence filled the room; the couch shook lightly as the two nervous bodies fidgeted. Across from them Dr. Lance Sweets smiled and looked back and forth between his anxious patients. "God…I really, really hate it when you do this," Booth grumbled while looking out of the window. "Actually, it is getting quite annoying," Brennan agreed while looking down at her feet, then her knees, then the psychologist. "You've never minded the silence before Dr. Brennan, perhaps you are a bit anxious today?" the young doctor inquired, making Brennan flinch.

Leaning forward in his chair Sweets laced his fingers together and looked between the two of his uneasy patients, "So what's going on?" Booth turned to the young man, "What are you talking about?" he answered a little too quickly. "Well…." Sweets began, "I've noticed that neither of you have so much as looked at each other since coming in here. And this whole case, I've noticed a strange tension between the two of you, which is odd since you're usually very comfortable with each other and typically do that talking with your eyes thing to try and get me off topic. So-"

Brennan interrupted Sweets logically, "It's actually very impossible to talk with your eyes."

"The point is," Sweets began, again this time a little irritation in his voice, "Something's up…and we need to talk about what it is." Looking to Booth, he continued, "Did something happen?" For the first time since stepping through the door Booth and Brennan looked to each other and despite Brennan's earlier comment, a mutual understanding passed between and them before they both turned back to the young doctor and said in unison, "Nope, nothing." Pointing accusingly at the two, Sweets exclaimed, "There you go again! Right there, doing it again with your eyes! Look this is a truth zone, remember? So whatever is going on, we need to talk about it-"

Interrupting Sweets once more, "But there's nothing to talk about," Brennan said quickly. "Yeah, can we please go now?" Booth grumbled. Putting on a determined face, Sweets said, "No! No you cannot. Not until we discuss-"

The light buzzing of Booth's phone sounded in his pocket and the all too-eager FBI agent quickly pulled out his phone, holding it up proudly for Sweets to see as it vibrated in his hand. "Actually…I can, see?" Sighing, Sweets shook his head irritably, "Booth how many times have I asked you to turn your phone off during-" Booth interrupted Sweets by holding up one finger to the pouting psychiatrist as he flipped open his phone, "Yeah, Booth." A few seconds of silence passed by before Booth closed his phone and said, "Sorry Sweets, I set it on vibrate but that's just not off, is it? Oops." Booth was obviously not hiding his short attitude as he continued, "Bones and I are needed in the interrogation room so I guess we are gonna have to cut this one short."

As Brennan nodded and stood to leave, Sweets protested, "No no no! You guys we really should-"

"See ya Sweets!" both said in unison and as the door closed behind them, Sweets collapsed back into his chair heaving an exasperated sigh before saying, "God, every time!"

* * *

Fingers laced together, then unlaced, then laced again in an uncomfortable gesture of both boredom and nervousness. A cute, slender brunette with tan skin and a heart-shaped face fidgeted uneasily in her chair as she sat at the lonely gray table in the interrogation room. When the door opened, she looked up quickly to see the two interrogators enter the room. Pulling out the chairs on the opposite side of the table, the tense duo sat down and looked to the girl.

"Melinda, is it?" Booth inquired flipping open his yellow folder. "Yes," came the sheepish reply. "Do you know why you're here?" Brennan asked, feeling slight sympathy for the nervous girl. After all, she was quite young. "Um….they said something about it having to do with Blake but…they wouldn't tell me much of anything else." Brennan nodded then looked to Booth who watched the girl closely for any signs of guilt or anger or anything else questionable. "Did he do something? Is he in trouble?" she asked.

"Why would he be in trouble?" Booth wondered aloud. Shrugging, the girl looked down, "Well the other guys didn't like him much, seeing as he was the new kid and…" she smiled. "Blake was kind of cocky and…confident in his biking skills."

"Obviously that's why you were so attracted to him," Brennan began. "Bones…" Booth murmured. "What? Confidence in a male is very appealing…I mean you're confident in your abilities," Brennan explained and Booth smiled like she had just given him the compliment of the century. "Wait…" Melinda interrupted the two's side conversation, "Did you say…were attracted to him? Like…past tense?" she said worriedly.

Brennan looked to her and said, "Oh, he's dead." Booth covered his face with one hand and groaned, "Bones…"

Before the young 18 year old covered her mouth in shock, "Oh my God…" came from her quivering lips in the form of a shaky voice as her eyes immediately began over flowing with tears.

For the next few minutes, the two sat in silence while they waited for the young girl to calm down enough to answer more questions. The sobs slowly died down enough to where Booth felt it was ok to begin, "I'm sorry. I understand this is hard being his girl friend and all, but we really need you to help us find who did this." She looked up to him in shock, "You mean…he was murdered?" she said with horror in every word. "Yes…evidence indicates that-" Booth raised a hand before Brennan could continue, "Point being, if you can answer our questions, it'll be a big help," he said simply and was glad that Brennan listened to his hand gesture and shut up for once. Melinda nodded, "Of course I'll do whatever I can…" she sobbed, "I…just can't believe he's dead. I mean when he disappeared I thought maybe he just chickened out and went home to Florida." Booth raised his eyebrows, "Without telling you?"

The girl shrugged, "Well he was going through a rough time, a lot of the other competitors weren't being very good sportsmen…I figured he would call me when he got over it. At first I thought it was sort of weird but considering it was only a week before the competition I guess I just thought he gave up." Brennan suddenly made a confused face, "But the competition hasn't even occurred, and evidence shows that Mr. Hutton has been dead for over a month." Melinda nodded, "That's because the competition was delayed; remember that week when it rained hard for like four days straight? Well that messed up the track so they had to reconstruct it and hold off the competition. The race is scheduled for next week."

Booth nodded, "Was there anyone in particular that would make him want to leave in such haste like you thought he did?" He waited patiently while she thought about it. "Asher Morrison," she said finally with certainty in her voice. The two looked at the girl curiously, waiting for more. "He's another competitor, he's won the title for three years in a row, so when Blake showed up from out of nowhere, Asher got angry about his attitude…they were always fighting…" Booth nodded and took a mental note of the name Asher Morrison.

"Ok, well…" he began before the sound of Brennan's vibrating phone stopped him. "Yes? Hi Wendell," she said unaware of Booth's irritated look. Normally he had no problem with her phone going off during interrogation, but there was Booth's short attitude today again. Hanging up, she looked at Booth and blinked, "What?" He sighed, "You're supposed to have your phone off during interrogations..." Brennan shrugged and held her phone out so he could see the 'vibrate' icon. "I put it on vibrate…I thought you said that was the same thing?" Booth rolled his eyes, "It was Sweets, I was being sarcastic, Bones. God."

Standing, he nodded to Melinda. "Thank you for your time; we'll call if we have any more questions." Melinda nodded, her face showing her relief to be able to leave the stressful environment.

* * *

An almost perfect skeleton lay across the examining table in the bones room, the body was nearly complete with only a few pieces missing from the puzzle that was the human skeleton. Two gloved hands lifted the skull with great care as the examiner looked closely to the frontonasal suture. So concentrated on his task of deciphering and identifying the many micro fractures on this BMX rider's bones, Wendell didn't even notice Hodgins' entry.

The bug and slime scientist entered the bones room and proceeded to cross his arms and lean back in a sort of "I'm ready" stance. For a long time, the two stood in silence while Hodgins' waited patiently for Wendell to notice his presence. Wendell of course heard Hodgins come in and could feel the other man staring at him; however, he didn't want to lose concentration.

Finally when he was done, Wendell carefully set down the skull and turned to his colleague with a smile, "Hey Hodgins. What's up?" Hodgins shrugged, "Nothing much," he said simply and Wendell nodded before turning back to the bones. After another moment of Wendell feeling Hodgins' eyes on him, the young intern turned to the scientist once again, "Did you find something?" Again, Hodgins shrugged, "Nothing worth reporting quite yet," came the simple reply. Wendell nodded again and turned back to his work.

When he still didn't feel Hodgins' eyes leave him, he turned and said, "Do you need one of the bones?" The young intern was trying desperately not to be rude by saying 'What do you want? Ask or stop staring at me!' Hodgins shook his head, "Nope." Wendell's expression turned confused as he finally brought all his attention away from the bones. Something was up… perhaps a test from Dr. Brennan? "Then…what uh…what is it?"

Hodgins looked down at his feet and moved a little closer to Wendell, "I, uh…was just coming by to see how you were, you know, seeing as we've both been busy with our own things…me with the slime, you with the bones…Angela," he muttered the last part.

Blinking, Wendell cocked his head to the side, "Um…did you say Angela just now, Hodgins?" His worried tone made Hodgins smile a little. "Yea, you know how is everything going with her?" Hodgins inquired as if asking himself more than Wendell. The blond man shrugged, "Um…ok, I guess. I mean, we've been pretty busy so there hasn't been much time for going out." Hodgins nodded with a look on his face that said 'interesting' and egged at Wendell a little, though he couldn't understand why. There was an awkward silence and to Wendell's relief, Brennan walked into the room, pulling on her white gloves. Hodgins smiled and left as Wendell began his explanation on his findings to his mentor. With a curious look on her face, Brennan asked her bright intern,

"What are the new developments you found?" Wendell walked over to the examination table, leading Dr. Brennan toward the skull. Brennan lifted the skull from the table and examined it closely. "Good job with the reconstruction, Mr. Bray." Wendell nodded proudly at Dr. Brennan's praise, momentarily forgetting all about Hodgins. Moving back over to the other bones, Wendell swept his hand over the table in a gesture meaning 'all the bones' before explaining, "I have been able to determine so far what injuries occurred before and after death. You can probably guess that many of his injuries are just from his BMX riding background, however I did find a few injuries that occurred around the estimated time of death," pointing to the lower part of the body.

Wendell explained, "Major fractures to the femur and pelvis indicate that something was either lodged or pushed against his upper leg and torso with great force." Brennan nodded, "Very great in order to cause this amount of damage…" she murmured more to herself then to the young intern. After thinking for a moment, she looked to Wendell before saying, "What would have had to been happening in order for this to happen…"

Both scientists were silent as they contemplated this fact. As if on cue, Cam appeared in the doorway, looking in curiously to see how things were going, "Got anything?" Brennan nodded, "Very possibly, cause of death." Cam's face lit up, "Oh great, what is it?" Pointing to the bones, Brennan began, "Something was lodged into him or was pushed onto him with great force and caused the femur and pelvis to nearly break apart." Cam thought for a moment before saying, "That would have punctured the external iliac artery, and he would have died of blood loss within minutes," she said looking at fractured bones. "Still, we don't know exactly what could have caused these fractures," Wendell commented.

"I can bring our findings to Angela and see what scenarios she can come up with that may have ended the victim's life," suggested Brennan before turning to leave while removing her gloves. "Uh wait! Dr. Brennan before I forget, I have a question for Booth, where is he?" Cam called out as Brennan tossed her gloves in the trash. "He's talking to one of the suspects down at the BMX track where they've moved all activities to due to our investigation," she said simply, something in her tone of voice saying she didn't really want to talk about Booth.

Cam got the hint and nodded, "Ok. I'll just give him a call then. Let me know what Angela helps you find out," she said simply as Brennan left the room.

* * *

Bikes and guys in t-shirts, baggy shorts, and DC skater shoes surrounded Booth who felt very out of place as he looked out to the many hills of dirt and bikers riding on them. Normally Booth wouldn't mind the wait, but seeing as he was having another irritable day, he sighed impatiently while he waited for one of the kids he had asked to go and find Asher Morrison. He wasn't surprised that he didn't have to explain who Asher was or show any pictures. It was obvious that he was quite well known. And feared, Booth noted. Looking around, bored, Booth watched some riders do flips and turn their front wheels, while they laughed at those who messed up and cheered for those who stuck the landing.

His eyes ventured off the track toward some boys surrounding their bikes. They were either greasing their chains, changing grips on handle bars, testing brakes, or checking the tire pressure. "That's weird," Booth thought to himself, when out of the corner of his eye, he saw a man helping another kid tighten a bolt on his bike. The man was wearing faded blue jeans, a bright green helmet, and a dark blue t-shirt shirt that said "Construction" across the back. "Why is a construction worker helping these kids work on their bikes?"

Before Booth could take a moment to ponder the thought, a voice broke his concentration. "Agent Booth!" called the kid he had recruited to find Asher. The young man waved his hand to Booth as he headed towards him with another older man trailing behind him with two of his buddies at his heels. Booth smirked and contemplated, "Probably trying to scare me into thinking he can stick his dogs on me if I make him mad." The thought amused him greatly.

Asher smiled and took Booth's hand, "Agent Booth, I'm Asher Morrison. I'm sure you've heard of me before," he said smugly. Shaking his head, Booth said in a matter-of-fact way, "Actually, no. Not until this morning when your name came up during my investigation." Asher was taken aback by Booth's comment and Booth wasn't sure if he was shocked about the investigation or the never hearing about him part. "Investigation of what?" Asher asked curiously.

His not-caring tone made Booth a little mad as he said, "The murder investigation of a Mr. Blake Hutton. It's my understanding that you two didn't stand too well with each other." Asher looked at him shocked, "Blake's DEAD?" he said putting emphasis on the work dead, "And you think I had something to do with it?" The young man then laughed, "Look, it's not a crime to be happy that someone is dead. However, I didn't kill the guy." Waving his hand he turned away, Booth took a step forward and reached out, "Well I just need to ask-"

He was cut off when Asher's two buddies who had been standing in the background quietly, instinctively lunged forward at Booth. The two men were built like wrestlers and they held Booth's arms behind his back, or rather they tried. As soon as they lunged forward, Booth's instincts kicked in and one of the men receive a blow to the gut that sent him to his knees while the other was tossed to the side like a piece of trash. Asher turned around with the smuggest, most arrogant look on his face that Booth had ever seen. For a moment, when Asher saw that his body guards weren't holding Booth like he thought they were, the young man looked worried but quickly covered it up.

Moving in closer to the FBI agent, as to create intimidation he said, "I didn't kill Blake. You got no proof and I got an alibi. So you better not come around here again."

Booth growled, "Is that a threat?" Asher said nothing. Smart boy. Instead Asher simply smirked and pointed to something behind Booth. Quickly, Booth turned around, but not quick enough to dodge the 14 mm wrench that was swung by one of the body guards who had quickly recovered. Booth fell to the ground; his cheek burst with pain as he felt blood run along his jaw. Now Booth was mad.

Using his foot, he tripped his attacker. The man was big but had poor reflexes and he fell down like a ton of bricks. Asher, who saw the fire in Booth's now-furious eyes, tried to turn and run away, but Booth was already up and on him like piranhas after a skinny dipping missionary.

Slamming Asher into the wall, Booth growled into his ear, "Even if I can't get you for murder, I've got you and your goons for assaulting a federal agent!"

* * *

**See what I mean by Google was our very best friend? I think that if someone monitored Google, they would be watching us and going "WTF?" Because we went from searching "Bone Diagrams" to "BMX Bikes" to "Artery diagrams" to "BMX accidents" to "maintence uniforms," etc. It took us a while to write this one, but in the end…we've never been more proud….ha ha yea so anyways we really hoped you enjoyed it please please please R&R!**


	3. Cause of Death

**YAY CHAPTER THREE. :'D We just want to thank all of you who have been reading and reviewing; it means so much to us and you really have no idea how excited we get when we receive an email saying we've gotten a review! **

**Disclaimer: We do not own Bones or any of its awesome (sexy booth) characters :/**

**ENJOY! **

Cause of Death

The virtual man fell, then fell again, and again, and again. All the while, Brennan watched carefully how he fell and how he landed. Angela stood by silently, entering the different codes which each scenario required while she let her best friend examine the fall.

"So you're thinking it was a fall from doing a BMX trick that caused our victim's death?" Brennan asked while watching yet another scenario. "Considering the amount of pressure it would have taken for whatever killed him to have done so, I'm thinking maybe he fell and his bike either landed on him or he landed on it," she stated. Thinking for a moment, Brennan wondered aloud, "But isn't he a professional BMX rider?"

Angela nodded, "Exactly. I'm thinking that in order for him to mess up in such a way, the bike was tampered with, throwing him off balance during his jump." Brennan added, "Which would cause him to fall in an unusual way, thus puncturing his external iliac artery, causing him to bleed excessively, and ultimately killing him." "So this was definitely a murder. Especially if you take into consideration his skills, knowledge of the jumps and the fact that the balance relies on the bike and body combined, this should not have happened. Unless of course….someone wanted it to happen," Angela confirmed. And her best friend nodded in agreement.

"Well, I suppose I'd better go tell Booth…" Brennan muttered. Curiously, Angela looked to Brennan before looking down at her control pad and saying, "Why so reluctant?" Brennan shrugged, "Reluctant? Why would I be reluctant to share information with Booth about the murder investigation? I mean, he is the FBI agent. He needs all the evidence he can get to solve this murder." Angela rolled her eyes before shutting off the simulator and setting down the control pad and walking over to her friend, "That's not what I meant, Sweetie, and you know it." She flashed the woman across from her a smile, "You have barely been in the same room with Booth since this case started."

The scientist blinked, "That is very untrue. We were in interrogation talking to Blake's girlfriend Melinda and before that, we had an appointment with Dr. Sweets today."

Angela narrowed her eyes as her friend babbled on and on. "Do I really need to spell things out for you?" "I don't…know what that means" Brennan said confused, "I'm not quite sure what spelling has to do with anything. And if there was anything that needs to be spelled, I can spell it; I am an excellent speller."

An exasperated sigh escaped the frustrated Angela who collapsed into her chair, "Sweetie…What's going on with you and Booth?" Brennan let out a sigh and said through a little smile, "It is extremely hard to hide anything from you." The woman smiled, "It's a gift," she said with a quick shrug before leaning fully back in her chair, "So….are you gonna tell me or am I gonna have to force it out of you?"

Rubbing her forehead, Brennan leaned against the wall and looked away before speaking, "I kissed Booth and…he kissed me back." Once it was out, Brennan couldn't believe how good it felt to say it aloud, to confess. When a moment of silence went by, Brennan looked at Angela who, unsurprisingly, was smiling as wide as she could at her best friend. Biting her lower lip, she waited another moment before saying, "Ange… please…say something? Your silence is making me feel quite uneasy."

Brennan groaned as Angela finally let out a little squeal before hurrying out of her chair and over to the anxious scientist. "Tell me everything! How it happened? How it was? It was great, wasn't it? I bet if I hadn't walked into that room, you two would've-" Angela babbled on excitedly before Brennan interrupted her, "Wait, how did you know that was when it happened?" Angela rolled her eyes, "Oh PLEASE Brennan, the way you were all flustered when I walked in? And afterwards when I was showing you the facial reconstruction, you couldn't WAIT to get out of there." Brennan smiled crookedly, "You know me better than anyone, I suppose." Angela nodded, "Yes I do, Sweetie. And now…. the details. Don't you dare hold back."

Rubbing her forehead Brennan groaned, "Ange this isn't some sleep over…it's serious." Angela sighed, "Brennan everything to you is serious." She raised a finger to stop Brennan from saying 'not necessarily' before continuing on, "Look, what's so wrong about it? I mean you both obviously have feelings for each other-"

She stopped short when she heard Brennan mumble, "I'm not so sure." Raising her eyebrows she scoffed, "You're not serious? Brennan, Sweetie. Why would you say that? If anything, he probably likes you more than you like him." Brennan looked at her with surprise. Sighing, Angela squeezed her friend's shoulder, "What's bothering you, Sweetie?"

Brennan sighed, "It's just…ever since it happened….we've both just…pretended like it hasn't happened. And I expected Booth to bring it up, but…he hasn't, and then there's the stressful tension and irritability and constant bickering-" She stopped when she saw Angela smiling.

"You're both confused," she said. "Well, normally I would say that's a rare occasion…which it is, but…now you've confused me even more," Brennan stated. Sighing, Angela led Brennan to a chair and sat her down before grabbing another chair and sitting down in front of her friend. Leaning in, she began, "Brennan look, it's obvious you two have feelings for each other. What happened in that room yesterday, it was simply the beginning of something far more powerful than you could have imagined. And because you've been holding back for so long, neither of you know what to make of this." She paused and took Brennan's hand. Brennan was listening intently and hanging on Angela's every word. Angela continued, "It is frustrating both of you because neither of you will come up front nor tell the other how you feel. And how the kiss brought up feelings that you never even knew existed, you won't bring it up because you're afraid the other doesn't feel the same way. But you do Brennan, you do both feel the same way and it's ok to be scared, but holding back like this? Ignoring everything? That's what's bringing the tension and the irritability." Angela watched Brennan just in case she'd lost her friend in her long, yet inspiring speech about her friend's love for her partner.

"For once, Angela…all this is…actually making sense to me," Brennan said, amazed before looking to her friend, "But…what do I do now?" Angela smiled, "What does your heart tell you to do?" Brennan was about to protest by saying the heart doesn't tell you do to do anything, the brain does. Then she remembered that strange force that overpowered her brain that moment in the office; could that have been her heart? Just like that Brennan had a revelation of something NOT having to do with bones! Her heart did speak to her, in a metaphorical way of course, and that was the powerful force that controlled her actions in the office.

Smiling, she hugged Angela, "Thanks Ange. What would I do without you?" Her friend giggled squeezing her back before saying cleverly, "Um…not Booth?"

* * *

The elevator was quiet but as soon as the door opened, her ears were filled with noise as she headed down the hall. Many FBI agents and paper-pushers walked past her and others stood talking about everyday life or about the case they were currently working on. She wouldn't really listen, but sometimes, certain conversations just seemed to catch the attention of innocent bystanders, or in her case by-passers. As Brennan walked at a normal pace to Booth's office, she heard one conversation in particular that caught her attention. It came from two FBI agents who were drinking coffee and laughing together.

"Did you see how mad Booth was when he brought those three in?" the first taller man said, laughing and taking a big gulp from his styrofoam cup. "Well, hell. I'd be mad too if some thug hit me in the face with a wrench!" the other replied.

Suddenly, Brennan felt not only her pace quicken, but her heart rate as well. Booth was hurt? Booth was upset? At first, her brain began by doing what it always did, it rationalized. "There's no need to get so worked up. After all, he is in the FBI and these things happen. You expect to get hurt," she thought anxiously. But once again, her heart seemed to completely over power her brain and she felt herself almost running into Booth's office, she had to know he was ok.

"Booth? Booth!" she called, hurrying into his office. Looking around, she bit her lower lip, "He's not here!" she screamed in her mind. "Um," the voice seemed to come out of nowhere. Brennan whirled around at the sound of someone behind her, "Booth?" Charlie stood there shrugging, "Um, no. Like I was going to say, Booth's in the bathroom but he should be…out….soon?" he dragged out the sentence as he watched Brennan walk away.

* * *

The water was cool against his face as he wet the paper towel and smoothed it along his jaw and cheek, wiping off the dried blood. Booth sighed tiredly. He was ready to just go home already and he was thankful that he would be able to do that soon. He winced as he dabbed the gash along his left cheek bone. It had finally stopped bleeding and was now just an open wound that not only hurt, but was spreading a bluish-purplish-blackish bruise all around it.

Suddenly the door burst open. Booth jumped in surprise and turned to see none other than his lovely partner. "Bones?" was all he could think of to say as the determined woman hurried over to him in a haste he didn't quite understand. "Booth! Are you alright? I heard you were hurt and…" She placed her hands on his jaw and turned his head so she could see his injury, "What happened? Did you get into a fight?"

Booth chuckled and set the paper towel down before gently wrapping his hands around her wrists and guiding her hands down and away from his face, "Bones, Bones relax. I'm fine; it's no big deal. Really," he said, flashing her one of his great reassuring smiles. "And besides, what are you even doing bursting in here? This is a men's room, you know," he joked. Brennan bit her lower lip and looked down at their feet, "I'm sorry I just….I needed to know you were alright…."

Booth's expression softened, "I'm alright, Bones….Hey." He lifted her chin so she was looking into his soft brown eyes. "I'm alright, I promise…if you want, I'll let ya take me home and bandage me up, okay?" he joked and felt better when he saw her smile. "Really?" she said sheepishly. Booth smiled, "What?" She shrugged, "Did you mean what you said? About me taking you home and taking care of your wound?" Her eyes ventured to the paper towel "Properly?" she added.

Booth blushed and he looked away, hoping she wouldn't see. As his blush darkened even more, he realized that not only were they alone in here, but he was also remembering the moment in the office. "Um, yes…of course I mean….if that's what you really want, then…sure," he smiled down at her and Brennan knew he was just as nervous as she was. Although Brennan was simply doing what Angela had told her to do, she was following her heart.

They were both smiling at each other, warm brown eyes looking into soft green-blue ones. The moment was absolutely perfect as they got lost in each other's warmth. Both wondered if another moment much like the one in the office would ensue.

Just then, the ringing of Booth's phone began annoyingly in his pocket. Grumbling, Booth pulled out his phone, "Yea, Booth," he answered while still looking at his awfully close partner. After listening to the voices at the other end of the line for a moment, Booth said, "Alright got it. Thanks."

Sighing after he hung up, he looked down to Brennan and gave a defeated smile. "They found Blake Hutton's parents. They were away on a vacation for their anniversary in Hawaii. So much for going home," he mumbled. Brennan's disappointed look broke his heart. Quickly, he added, "Uh, why don't you go on home, get some rest and I'll go speak with the parents." He took a step back from Brennan and examined the beautiful woman in front of him, feeling bad that their moment was cut short.

Brennan wanted to protest that he was hurt and should go home, but she knew that he wasn't incapable of working either and that he had to do what he had to do. Sighing, she nodded and followed her partner out, ignoring the odd looks she got when a few people saw her exiting the men's bathroom.

* * *

Sniffles and soft sobs filled the quiet room as the blond woman blew her nose into the soft white tissue provided to her by the sympathetic FBI Agent. A man in his 50s with stern eyes, thinning grey hair, and worry lines on his forehead leaned forward in his chair toward the agent's desk in front of him.

"You….you're sure," the old man said, his voice full of distress. He was obviously trying to hold back for his wife's sake. The woman, whose face was wrinkled slightly with age and her blue eyes red and puffy from crying, blew her nose once more before saying, "It can't be. It just can't be our Blake."

Booth looked down at his desk, knowing deep down that he would be even more upset if his son was killed as well, "I'm very sorry for your loss Mr. and Mrs. Hutton…" he said softly, "But unfortunately, our scientists have confirmed that the body we discovered was your son's."

Mrs. Hutton began to sob again and her husband shook his head while looking away. His face was turning red and his adam's apple moved as he swallowed the lump in his throat again and again to prevent himself from crying. After a moment Booth began, "I know this is hard but I just need to ask you a few questions-"

Booth was interrupted when the father exploded, standing up right from his chair. "No!" he screamed, his despair turning into rage, "You _don't_ understand!" The man swallowed, and when Booth opened his mouth to speak the man in front of him shook his head and took his wife's arm, helping her up as he said, "We wanted our son to go to college, but he was too busy riding that bicycle! As soon as he turned 18, he left the house and we haven't heard from him since." He looked down, tears of rage and sadness now running down his wrinkled cheeks. "The only times we saw him or heard about him was when he was on TV or in the magazines…we don't know anything." He clenched the fist that wasn't occupied and gently lead his sobbing wife toward the door, "Why don't you spend more time doing your job, huh? Why don't you know this already? Why weren't we notified sooner!?" Shaking his head Booth said, "Sir-" but was cut short once again by the furious man, "Just leave us alone and do your job!" With that, the couple left the office, leaving Booth feeling worse than ever.

**So as far as the progression of the case, there wasn't much of it in this chapter. Because chapter 2 was so concentrated on the case, we wanted to bring back some B&B moments that we all know and love. We hope you don't guys don't mind much. (: Rest assure, the case will unravel more in the next chapter coming up next week! Please review!**


	4. Fork in the Road

**Heeeeeeeey! So we've sorta been…procrastinators this past week :,( Last night I spent the night at E's house and stayed up with her till 4 in the morning writing this story! And, we didn't finish till just now…why you ask? Cause we're easily distracted by facebook and youtube heh heh. Anyway just so you know there's a one shot up as well, its called "Military Wake-up Call" so check it out! :D**

**Disclaimer: We do not own Bones :(**

**Enjoy! **

Fork in the Road

Life's moments are sometimes describe as a 'fork in the road'; sometimes it's a decision between two loves, or two jobs, or maybe choosing between college and the military. Either way, left or right in the road, your life wouldn't end up the same if it went in the other direction; it would be forever altered.

But in this case, it was a decision between Chinese food and Thai Food. The black SUV drove down the street toward an intersection and stopped at the red light. The fork in the road decision being turn left for Chinese, or turn right for Thai.

Booth sat staring at the red light thinking about how eating Chinese at home by himself would be compared to taking a risk and surprising Brennan at her apartment with Thai. Booth bit his lip, lightly taping the steering wheel with his fingers as he half-listened to the faint radio and half-thinking things over in his mind. Maybe she didn't want him there; after all she seemed pretty tense and upset after what happened between them in the office.

The stoplight wouldn't be red for much longer. He needed to decide.

Biting his lower lip he thought, "She'll probably be sleeping anyway, there's no need to bug her especially if she doesn't even want to see me." Images of what happened in the bathroom nearly two hours before rushed through his head. Booth sighed, "No, I won't go. That's final, I absolutely will not go."

* * *

Thirty minutes later Booth stood in front of Brennan's door, knocking with one hand and holding a bag of Thai food in the other. The moments that went by after he knocked seemed to drag on for years and years. His palms began to sweat and his mind began to race through scenarios of things that could go wrong.

_Brennan opened the door quickly, her hair wet and her clothes dampened from her wet body. Booth blinked, "Uh…I brought some dinner." Brennan's expression went from surprised to annoyed, "I was in the shower, Booth. I thought you said for me to go home and rest. You didn't mention you would be stopping by." _

Booth shook the image away; that scenario was a bad idea because now he was thinking of Brennan taking a- gah! The door finally opened, and Booth quickly pulled himself together. The scientist poked her head out of the door and, instead of looking annoyed, she smiled at her partner before opening the door all the way. "Hey Bones. I, uh," he held up the bag of food, "hope you don't mind me stopping by. I mean, I know I didn't call or anything…"

Shaking her head she said, "No no it is a nice surprise. I haven't eaten yet so thank you." With that, she stood aside and let Booth into her spacious and cozy place. Once he was in, Booth suddenly felt relaxed; he wasn't nervous like he had been on the ride there or even outside the door. As soon as he was inside, it was like old times when he was always at her place and she was always at his.

Setting the food down on the coffee table, he fell into the couch, "Well ya know, I just remembered how much you like Thai food and I wanted to make sure you eat something." Brennan grabbed two plates and silverware from her kitchen before she sat beside him and began taking the food out of the bag as she said, "Why do you always want to make sure I eat?" Booth shrugged, "You just work so hard and sometimes if I'm working real hard I forget to eat so-" she turned to him, "So you're saying I should make sure you eat as well?" Shaking his head Booth sat up, "No Bones. You don't gotta worry about me. All I'm saying is that I get how eating can slip a person's mind if they're working real hard, so I'm just making sure that you don't forget. That's all." Brennan nodded; she watched the food slide from her fork and onto the plates as she distributed the food between them.

After a moment she said, "Why do you do that?" Booth looked confused, "I just told you why…" she shook her head, "No, I mean…" her eyes never left the plates as she said, "Why do you always say 'don't worry about me' but continue to worry about…well me? Don't you care about yourself?" Brennan held his filled plate out to him while looking into his eyes with her questioning, caring, soft blue-gray ones.

"Well no I just…" he took the plate, his brown pools melting to her eyes feeling like she was looking into his soul. "I just care about you a little more, that's all." An odd feeling churned in Brennan's stomach when she thought about what he said, looking down at her plate as she twisted some noodles around her chop sticks. Booth looked at his plate also, thinking he had made things awkward with his comment.

"You're lying" she said at last, making Booth stop in mid chew, "What?" came the mouthful reply. Her eyes were still fixated on the steaming food, "I am not lying." Booth said sincerely after swallowing, "I do care about you and-" She shook her head, interrupting, "No, I mean…when you said 'I care about you a little more' you lied, it's not a little, Booth. It's a lot."

Brennan received one of her very favorite smiles from Booth just then as he nodded, "Alright….I admit," he shrugged, "I lied." She laughed and finally took her first bite, savoring the warm food as she ate, and every once in a while she exchanged a smiling glance with her busy eating partner.

The glass plate made a light clinking sound as Booth set his plate on the coffee table before leaning back into the cushions of the couch with a satisfied smile on his face. Brennan, who had also just finished, set her plate down beside his as Booth mused, "Man those egg rolls were really good!" Brennan nodded her head in agreement and said, "Yes, but I rather enjoyed their fried tofu today."

Booth cocked back his head and laughed. He said between chuckles, "You would, Bones. That's why I got it. Just for you."

Brennan tilted her head to the side and furrowed her brow. "What is that supposed to mean. 'You would'? Well, yes. I would like fried tofu… I always like their fried tof-"

Booth cut Brennan off, "That's not what I mean. I mean, you like all those health-nutty foods that no one else likes. Your cupboards are filled with bunny food." Brennan grabbed the two empty plates that were sitting on the table and stood up. "I most certainly do not keep pellets and grass in my cupboards," she stated in her logical tone of voice that she used when correcting Booth as she stalked off to the kitchen.

Booth rolled his eyes and scooted closer to the arm of the chair, leaned over it and tilted his head to look at Brennan upside down in a childish sort of way. Rinsing off the dishes Brennan glanced at the couch and smiled crookedly when she saw Booth.

"What are you doing? You're going to hurt your back again," she warned only to receive an even more childish smile from her partner. "Then you can use your magical bone knowledge to fix my back like you did last time," he stated before sticking his tongue out at her. He grinned when he heard Brennan giggle before he sat back up properly; he was glad that she couldn't see his slight wince.

Drying off her hands Brennan walked back over to the couch with her dish towel in hand. Smiling at her partner who was leaning back into the cushions and rubbing his head tiredly, she frowned when she noticed and remembered the gash on his cheek.

Booth blinked when he saw her staring at him, "Bones?" Setting her towel down she sighed, "Booth your wound is exposed! Why didn't you bandage it?" As she hurried into the next room Booth's voice echoed through the apartment, "I'm _fine _Bones, geez it's just a flesh wound I've had WAY worse…"

Brennan hurried back into the living room carrying the biggest first aid kit Booth had ever seen. Widening his eyes Booth shook his head, "Bones I didn't get my _arm_ cut off! It's a little cut geez where'd you get that thing? The lab?" Making a face Brennan sat on the coffee table across from Booth as she set the large white box on her lap. "You can never be to careful Booth," she said simply as she removed anti-biotic spray, Neosporin, cotton balls, a white square piece of gauze that would fit over his cut perfectly and tape to hold the gauze in place.

Booth stood when he saw the Neosporin and anti-biotic spray. "Whoa, whoa, Bones. This is really not necessary," he said quickly, trying to move away from his seat before his partner grabbed his hand. "Booth please? You _did _say earlier that I could dress your wound properly," Brennan pouted. "But…"

Brennan wouldn't let Booth protest anymore as she yanked on his hand to make him sit back down. "Fiiiiine… but you know I'm okay, right Bones?" he said with a reassuring tone in his voice. Brennan sighed and rolled her eyes as she pressed the alcohol covered cotton ball to his wound without hesitation. Booth yelped as the alcohol stung his cut and made it burn in pain, he leaned back into the couch cushions to get as far from the cotton ball as possible.

Brennan smiled crookedly, "If it was as 'fine' as you say, then it wouldn't hurt so much would it?" Booth narrowed his eyes in an irritated yet fearful way, "Its alcohol on an open wound, Bones! It would hurt no matter what!" Despite his pain, Booth couldn't help but smile at the sound of her sweet laugh.

"Booth, come back here so I can finish cleaning your wound…" Brennan said softly leaning forward slightly causing her partner to lean farther back, pushing his back into the cushions as he shook his head in a childish way. "Nu-uh." Laughing lightly she shook her head, "Don't make me come over there…" her voice was low, almost lustful. Booth's face reddened a little as he simply stuck his tongue out at her and continued to try and lean farther back.

By now Booth could feel the wood of the couch pushing against his spine, though he didn't even notice as he watched his lovely partner get closer…and closer…and closer. She lightly dabbed the cotton ball against his cheek and smiled, "What? It doesn't hurt anymore?" Booth was so mesmerized by her blue-gray eyes that he couldn't move. His breath was held, his face was red, and he didn't even notice she was cleaning his wound.

"Bones…" his voice came out as barely a whisper; she smiled and leaned back to her original spot as Booth let out his held breath. Brennan leaned in once more when she had the gauze and tape ready. The room temperature felt like it had risen to 100 degrees and there was so much pressure that it felt like the small space between them would erupt like a volcano.

Smoothing the tape over his soft cheek Brennan could feel Booth's warm breath against her hand. Their eyes looked into each others, both losing themselves in the deepness of the emotions apparent within their pools of soft brown and glowing blue-gray. Déjà vu wasn't really the correct term for what the two partners were feeling now, because they both knew that they were feeling exactly what they had felt in the office the day before.

The gravitational force between them pulled the two other closer and closer, the heat was increasing, and the overpowering battle of heart vs. brain raged within them. Brennan's hands slid down his cheeks, over his jaw, down his neck and rested on his broad shoulders. "Bones…" Booth whispered before their lips met in another electrifying moment.

One small kiss and then Brennan pulled away slightly so she could look into Booth's eyes once more. After watching each other's flustered face, a mutual understand passed between them and the kissing started all over again. Lips moved in unison, tongues slid along each other, Booth's hands wrapped around her and slid down her back making her shiver again, Brennan's slender hands glided along his shoulders and down his muscled chest.

Before Brennan knew it she found her self straddling Booth on the couch, her lips moving over the soft skin on his neck while Booth's hands slid the gray cardigan off her shoulders, exposing her white t-shirt. Brennan's mind reeled; the information that usually ran through her mind smoothly was flickering in and out like a florescent lightbulb. \ _What am I doing? What is going on here? How could I be doing this? This is not the rational thing to be doing! He's my partner! We work together so it isn't ideal to be doing such things with one you work with. _

Her heart pumped and her mind spun uncontrollably, her hands now had Booth's jacket off and were sliding curiously along the bottom of his black t-shirt making the man below her gasp. _Angela did say to follow my heart. But this is all so fast…I don't know…I don't know…I need…I need… _Warm fingers glided along the soft skin of the small of her back, the contact leaving tingles in their wake but also snapping Brennan's hazy spinning mind into place.

An audible gasp escaped her and Brennan pulled away from her partner and quickly got off of him. Booth blinked as if trying to regain where he was and what was going on; his face was flustered and his clothes were wrinkled. His eyes finally landed on his partner who was simply watching him now from the other side of the coffee table.

"Um…" was all he could think of to say as he slowly regained his composure. They watched each other for another moment.

_I just… _Brennan began to think, _I need…some time to think_. With that thought the scientist looked away and said in a low voice, "I think you should leave…" Booth's eyes turned sad, then worried before he quickly pulled himself together to hide the emotions for her benefit.

Standing, he grabbed his jacket and headed for the door. All the while, Brennan never looked at him; she just kept staring at the wall. Slipping through the door, Booth looked back at the frozen woman. He looked down and muttered, "I'll call you later Bones…" before the door closed behind him leaving Brennan in the silence of her apartment with her thoughts jumbled and her body cold without him.

* * *

Walking down the hall buzzing with FBI agents, the tense scientist and young psychologist headed towards the interrogation room. As Brennan tried to keep her mind focused on the case she was briefing Sweets about the interrogation that was going to be taking place.

"So this Asher Morrison guy attacked Agent Booth?" Sweets asked with obvious confusion and a little irritation in his voice since he hadn't been informed of this fact at all. Brennan corrected, "Well actually it was Asher's two body guards who attacked him and one of the two hit him with a wrench in the face. But technically it was Asher Morrison who told them to do it." After saying the last part, Brennan looked over to Sweets, curious to see his reaction of what she just told him.

Sweets' eyes doubled in size and it as if his eyebrows would nearly reach his hairline. He hesitated before finally saying, "W-what… did he do to them?" Brennan raised one of her eyebrows and found the fact that Sweets was wincing humorously.

"He arrested them," she said quite simply. Sweets nodded in understanding and replied with, "Oh."

When they both reached the door to the one-way mirror room, Sweets grabbed the handle and opened the door handle, holding the door open for Brennan. Walking through the door frame Brennan said after a sigh, "You know I can hold the door open myself, Sweets." Walking into the dimply lit room, Sweets joined Brennan. Sweets held his hands up in defense and said, "Whoa, Dr. Brennan. You seem to be a little on the tense side. Would you like to discuss with me what's going on in your life right now while we wait for the interrogation to begin?"

Brennan looked over her shoulder to Sweets, away from the window, and said straightforwardly, "No." Sweets waved his hands in defense at Brennan even after she had turned back around to face the window.

Brennan was staring intently at the man sitting on one side of the table that had dared challenge her strong… brave… handsome…FBI agent partner. Her face turned slightly red and at that moment she was glad the room was so dark, that way Sweets couldn't pick at her.

Stepping forward and closer to the glass one way mirror Brennan mumbled to herself, "I can only imagine what Booth is going to do to this man…especially in the mood he may be in today…" She remembered how this morning the two didn't have their usual breakfast together. In fact, neither of them had talked or seen each other at all today.

Sweets glanced at Brennan, knowing she probably didn't think he was listening, and even though he REALLY wanted to ask, Sweets kept his mouth shut for the time being. To her relief and dismay at the same time the door into the interrogation room opened and in stepped a very tired and surprisingly calm Booth. Sweets couldn't help but notice how Brennan's back became erect when she saw Booth.

Booth's eyes landed immediately on Asher Morrison. Asher Morrison had this smug, cocky look on his face that Booth just wanted to punch right off, but he knew Brennan was watching. He didn't want to show to her that last night had fazed him; he didn't want her to think that her wanting him to leave changed his opinion of her. It didn't. He also knew that Sweets was watching, and he didn't want the kid picking at him for what was wrong; he was in a bad mood already as it was. So, Booth did what he always did, he swallowed his emotions and pressed forward as calmly as possible.

Dropping the yellow folder on the table Booth pulled the chair and sat with a flop. He gave Asher a look that said, "No funny business," as he watched Asher's eyes flash to the bandage on Booth's cheek and down to his hands on the cool table. "Alright… you said you got an alibi… so lets here it, and it better be a damn good one…" Booth said in a low voice.

Asher leaned back, putting on a brave face despite the tense atmosphere and fear that this FBI agent would lunge at him the way he had at the BMX track. "I was at a promotional BMX event in Oxnard…_California._ That's not near DC, in case you weren't aware," the smug BMX rider said, turning his expression away from his interrogator. Booth narrowed his eyes and took a deep breath.

Brennan leaned forward, she was sure that she would have to run in and break up a fight here soon. Sweets glanced at Brennan, never letting her actions go unnoticed; he too was ready for something to happen, for Booth to snap.

Booth let out his breath and leaned forward. He knew what Asher was trying to do and Booth couldn't lay a hand on him unless it was in self defense much like the self defense he used at the BMX track. "I am _aware," _he said controlling his anger. "Is there anyone who can verify this?"

Asher's eyes flashed, his plan wasn't failing, was it? "My manager and those two guys who…you saw with me yesterday….about a _DOZEN_ or so fans, the other BMX riders there…I also gave out about a million autographs if you need cold hard evidence, oh and there were security cameras everywhere so you might wanna check those in case you don't believe me." The young man leaned back giving the FBI agent another smug smile.

"Oh we will…" Booth stood up snatching the folder off the table, "You can rest assure that we'll look into ALL that, and if anything doesn't check out, I got you for murder."

Asher's expression became annoyed, at both a lack of violent reaction from Booth and from Booth's lack of confidence in his bulletproof alibi. The young man got ready to stand as he said, "So I can go now?" Booth flashed him a dark smile, "Oh, no way. I still got you and your goons on assaulting a federal agent charges, in case you weren't _aware,_" Booth said giving Asher a deadly look and with that he left, closing the door roughly behind him. Asher flopped back into his chair as he heaved a frustrated sigh.

Brennan watched the whole thing with wide eyes, amazed at how calm and collected Booth had composed himself. Despite the fact that she knew Sweets had been watching and observing her the whole time, Brennan still couldn't help but allow an extremely worried expression overcome her features.

As soon as Booth closed the door behind him, Brennan and Sweets exchanged a glance and hurried out the door and into the hall. But as soon as they did they both looked toward the direction of the door to catch a glimpse of Booth, but the FBI agent was already gone. "That was fast…" Sweets muttered as Brennan's expression became even more worried. She took two steps forward in the direction she knew Booth had gone, when her phone began to ring in her pocket.

"Brennan…" she said in a tired tone as she ignored Sweets' worried glance from her to the hall empty of Booth. "Dr. Brennan, it's Hodgins. I found something interesting on the pelvis" Brennan nodded, "I assume you've already found what it is?"

"Yes, I ran it through the scanner and found it to be a part of a sticker. I gave it to Angela and she was able to not only figure out what the sticker was, but where it was from." Brennan bit her lower lip, she was already anticipating what the sticker was from, perhaps this discovery would cheer Booth up a little.

"Apparently our victim is known for having a distinctive sticker on the down tube of the frame of the bike." Brennan tried to remember the pictures she's seen of Blake Hutton and his bike. "So if we find a down tube with this sticker on it, then we may be able to get some DNA," she began, her mind already spinning with possibilities. "BMX bike garages typically have some sort of bin that contains spare parts for whenever they need it," Hodgins said, excited that he had found something worth while.

"I'll let Booth know. And you and the forensics team meet us at the BMX track," Brennan ordered before hanging up quickly and looking to Sweets.

"Would you mind calling Booth and letting him know that we need a warrant to search the BMX track?" Sweets blinked, "But…why can't you do it?" he inquired giving her a suspicious look. Brennan's eyes flashed making Sweets take a step back. "Because I need to arrive when the forensic team does, to ensure they don't compromise any evidence," she said simply before walking off, ignoring as Sweets called, "But…Hodgins will be there and…Dr. Brennan?" She was already gone.

* * *

**Ok so just so you know, E is queen of the lab because of something that happened earlier this week! One day while I was driving E to my house so we could work on the story, E and I said a quote from a movie at the same time and laughed. But for the LIFE OF US we couldn't remember what movie it was from! For TWO WEEKS (no lie) we'd been trying to figure out what movie it was. Suddenly both of us got the idea that the quote came from Emperor's New Groove! Excitedly E brought the DVD over to my house and we watched it intently looking for our quote. BUT IT NEVER HAPPENED! So once again we continued on wondering what movie it was. IT BUGGED THE FREAKIN CRAP OUT OF US. But earlier this week E suddenly had an epiphany of what it was! When we looked "The Road to El Dorado" up on Youtube sure enough we saw it! "YAY WE'RE NOT CRAZY!" we both shouted excitedly.**

**So in conclusion E is queen of the lab for like the rest of our lives, so in your review (PLEASE REVIEW!) You should tell E good job. Thanks for reading Chapter 4 we hope you enjoyed it! Look forward to more next week!**


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